originally posted 10/20/2009
I am the wife of, now that he has been sentenced, a “sex offender”. My husband of 9 years suffers from Bipolar Disorder. He has what is
ackowledged by the Prosecutor as a manic episode. Despite a previous
spotless record, and having served (he was active duty when this occured) 25 years in the Military, he was chaged at the Federal Level. They
did this for two reasons. One, to gain publicity, and a lot of it. They used his military position to vilify him for days. Two, the ICAC has had a
public dispute with the State Prosecutor, and rather than deal with him, took the path of least resistance and charged him Federally. This took
his charge of Enticement of a minor over the internet from 30-90 days in jail to 46 months in a FED prison. He had to plea down to this 46
month sentence. Despite his previous perfect record, an stellar post arrest rehabilitaion effort (he voluntarily attended state sex offense
treatment)took a psycho-sexual exam, got further sex inventory testing – all of which showed this was a fluke, abhorrent act. �he was
slammed. The judge even asked, how could being Bipolar cause you to break the law? Obvioulsy he didn’t care, or take time to read the
extensive testing he did concerning his mental health issues. The laws in place are absurd. 46 Months for a first time offender with
documented mental health
issues????? This is the continued criminalization of mental illness! HELP: What can we do?????